Apparatus for testing hollow floats for steam-boilers



PATENTBD APR. 3, 1860.

A e. w. LANE. APPARATUS FOR TESTING HOLLOW SPHERES FOR WATER GAGES FOR STEAM BOILERS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEO. IV. LANE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR TESTING HOLLOW FLOATS FOR STEAM-BOILERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 27,725, dated April 8, 1860.

T 0 all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE IV. LANE, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Testing Hollow Spheres or Floats for ater Gages for Steam-Boilers, Condensers, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 exhibits the said apparatus in front elevation, and Fig. 2 the same in vertical section.

Metallic hollow floats used in steam boilers and other devices for indicating the height of water therein are often defective, either in strength or construction, even after having been made wit-h much care. The great heat and variations of temperature to which they are subjected, while in use, often cause them either to leak or collapse, and although a float may have every appearance of being thoroughly made, yet there is no certainty of its being capable of withstanding the pressure and heat of a boiler unless in some proper way before its intro duotion therein, it may have been thoroughly tested. The importance of subjecting a float to a thorough test before being used in a boiler will be obvious, when it is considered how much depends on the accuracy of its operation, or in other words, on its strength to resist pressure and its being perfectly tight so as to prevent either steam or water from being forced into it. WVith this in view, I have invented the hollow float testing apparatus which I shall now proceed to describe.

In carrying out my invention I employ a strong cylindrical or other proper air tight vessel A, made of iron or other suitable material capable of withstanding a very high degree of pressure viz, several hundred pounds, per square inch. The stronger the vessel, the better. The upper end or head of the said vessel should have an opening a, and a closing cover b, or man hole plate so applied as to enable the hollow floats to be tested, to be introduced into the vessel A, or to be removed therefrom after having been tested. The joint of the cover should be made air and steam tight either by a luting or by a proper packing and should be secured to the vessel A, by screws or other proper means.

A pipe or conduit B, provided with a stop cock C, should lead into the top or upper part of the vessel A, and from a steam boiler or generator and so as to enable steam produced by the latter to be introduced into the vessel A. Furthermore, a force pump D, should be used in connection with the vessel A, and the means of introducing steam therein, such force pump being so applied as to enable a person to drive water or a liquid into the said vessel A, and so as to cause the same to exert a very high degree of pressure within such vessel. The said force pump and its eduction pipe 6, I prefor to arrange with reference to the vessel A, as shown in the drawings, the induction pipe of the said pump being shown at c.

A steam discharge pipe E, provided with a stop cock C, may lead out of the upper part of the vessel A. So above the stop cock G, a pipe Gr, provided with either one or more stop cocks H, may lead from the pipe B, down into the lower part of the vessel A in order that whenever the same may be desirable, steam may be dlscharged into the lower part of the liquid contents of such vessel. There may also be a water supply and a water discharge pipe K, applied to the vessel A, either by a double elbow connection L, (furnished with two stop cocks M, N,) or in any other suitable manner, there being a stop cock to each pipe. The water supply pipe should lead from a force pump or from a reservoir, cistern, or tank so elevated above the vessel A, as to cause water to flow into the vessel A, and fill it when the stop cock M, may be opened and kept open a sufiicient length of time.

In operating with the said apparatus I usually employ or connect with the vessel A, not only an ordinary water gage, but a steam pressure gage in order to either determine the height of the water or the pressure either of the steam or water that there may be at any time in the said vessel.

Having freed the vessel A, of water, it is next to be charged with some twenty or any other suitable number of the hollow floats to be tested, after which the cover should be carefully fastened down, so as to render its joint steam, air, and water tight. Next, close all the stopcocks except the cock C, which should be open so as to permit steam at a very high degree of pressure (that is at some three or four times that which the floats are destined to bear while in use) to flow through the pipe B, into the vessel A, so as to fill the said vessel with the steam and thereby heat all the floats in it to a temperature much above two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit. The heat so applied Will expand the metal of which each float is composed. After this application of the hot steam has been carried on a suflicient period the stop cocks M and H, may be opened so as to allow water to run into the vessel A, and steam also to pass into the lower part of such vessel and into and through the water so as to heat the same up to a boiling temperature. By employing the additional pipe G, the water may be heated to better advantage than it could be by the pipe B, alone. After the vessel A, may have been nearly filled with water so heated, all the stop cocks may be closed, and the force pump D, should be put in operation so as to fill or complete the filling of the vessel A, and force under great pressure hot Water into it. By means of the pump, we can apply any degree or amount of pressure upon the water, the object of the pump being to enable us to readily obtain a greater pressure than it may be convenient to obtain by the steam of the boiler. This pressure, in case the great heat to which the floats may have been subjected, may have opened any one or more of the joints of any one of them, or may have melted any part of the solder or brazing thereof will cause Water to be driven into such float, or should the float not be strong enough to bear the pressure it will collapse under it.

After these tests of heat and pressure by steam and water, the floats may be removed from the vessel A. Those which may have proved defective, but of sufficient strength, may next be placed over a fire or spirit lamp and heated, so as to vaporize or convert into steam the water which may have entered them. The current or currents of steam issuing from the defective places will indicate Where they are, and Where solder or other means should be applied for stopping or repairing such places. After the floats may have been repaired, they may be returned to the vessel A, and be again subjected to the tests of heat, steam, and pressure.

I claim as my invention,

The said float testing apparatus to operate in manner and constructed substantially as described, and either with or without either or both the steam and water pipes G, and I, furnished with stop cocks M, N as specified.

G. W. LANE.

Vitnesses R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr. 

